H2O JUST ADD WATER SEASON 4
by Bella Smith1
Summary: H2O season 4! I was furious that there was no season 4 so I had to write my own! Enjoy! Please review!
1. Chapter 1

I was furious that there was no season 4 so I had to make my own! If you're a Zikki fan, then this is the story for you, because I am too! What happens when Emma comes back? Can she and Bella get along? What's going to connect the girls stronger than before? When they delve deeper, the girls will find that the sea has secrets yet to reveal, a secret as ancient as the crystals they wear.

H2O JUST ADD WATER SEASON 4

EPISODE 1

(Good News!)

"I've got a special power.

_That I'm not afraid to use._

_So come on this is my adventure!_

_This is my fantasy!_

_It's all about living in the ocean being wide and free!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld_

_Land or sea_

_I got the power if I just believe! _

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld_

_Land or sea_

_The world's my oyster I'm the pearl_

_No ordinary girl."_

It was another bright, sunny day on the Gold Coasts of Australia. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. At first, when she'd woken up this morning, Cleo's mood had matched the weather. She _had _to talk to Rikki and Bella! Yesterday night she'd received some of the best news of her life, or so it seemed. It had been so late at night when she'd heard the word from her dad that Cleo hadn't wanted to bother her friends. She'd wanted to call them the moment she woken up, but both of their phones had been switched off. Cleo could only guess that they'd both gone for a swim, presumably without her, given that it was now around noontime and she'd just woken up an hour ago.

But of course, the day was already loused up, despite the great news. Ever since Cleo's father had given out the bathroom order, she'd been last to leave the house every day. First Sam, then Kim, and then Cleo was the order of the bathroom.

"Kim!" Cleo shouted through the bathroom door. "Kim, can you please hurry up I've gotta go soon!"

"Just a minute," came Kim's singsong, sassy voice.

Cleo groaned and sank to the floor in annoyance. Leave it to her younger sister to ruin everything. "Kim, really! I've got some important news for Rikki!"

There came the sound of the sink water running, and then Kim opened the door. "It's all yours Cleo."

Suspecting some sort of trick, Cleo peered inside the bathroom apprehensively. After about four seconds she was unable to wait any longer and quickly used the toilet and brushed her teeth. She flung open the door and raced down the stairs.

"I'll be back later Dad!" Cleo shouted as she opened the front door and-

"Cleo!" Impatiently, she turned to see her father sitting on the couch. "You haven't done your chores."

"Come on Dad," Cleo whined. "I _really _gotta talk to Rikki." Nervously clasping her hands, she added, "I'll do them- a bit later."

"When you get back later today," he confirmed. He stood up and gave her a hug, which Cleo could barely stand still for. "Bye Sweetheart."

"See-ya," she called over her shoulder. She was already outside and running for the ocean.

Rikki and Bella had been swimming. Now they were floating lazily in the Moon Pool, spreading out their arms and swishing them in the water. Rikki flipped over so she was on her stomach and looked at Bella. "It'll never be the same again will it?" she said softly, sadly.

Bella sighed. Unlike Rikki, she hadn't been thinking about the ruined Moon Pool, she'd been thinking about Will. They'd been together most of yesterday searching for shells and unusual rocks in the reef. Today, he was going with Sophie somewhere, so Bella had reserved time with her friends. But Rikki's words made Bella feel some of what her friend had been feeling. "I guess that Sophie and Ryan damaged it beyond repair."

Rikki looked at her sadly, and then turned to stare at the broken rock and exposed crystals that had once been intact and hidden. It made her furious to think that Zane had had a part in its destruction. It was this fury, fury that she'd felt for quite some time, that had brought about their separation. First she'd broken up with him; now, she was avoiding him. The last time she could even remember talking to him was at _Rikki's_ just after graduation. She hadn't spoken to him for a little over two months. Whenever she saw him at _Rikki's _she always thought about the way he'd threatened to tell her secret after he stole the crystal necklace. He hadn't told of course, and the next day he said that one day he would more than make it up to her, but she still kept her distance.

It wasn't that she really hated him now. Actually, if it hadn't been for those bad experiences she got the feeling that the two of them would be together right now.

And she _missed _him. She knew that it was her fault that they'd grown so distant, and for the first month, she'd thought that he was letting her be by herself because he'd known she'd needed some space. But after two months- now she was worried that the way he wasn't speaking to her wasn't just him being courteous. Perhaps he had moved on. And Rikki had no one to blame but herself. Yet it still made her sad that he might not care about her anymore. The same way he used to. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone, especially him.

Rikki glared at the broken rocks again, and tried not to feel the pathetic grief. Maybe it was better this way. They'd had so many arguments. Maybe it was better that they were just split up forever. She still hadn't forgiven him.

"Yeah, you're probably right. But does that mean that the Moon Pool can't turn anybody into mermaids again?" Rikki wondered. That thought was bad. Every three hundred years the comet would pass by again. Who would be there to stop it next time? The three of them weren't going to live that long.

"Guess so," Bella murmured. "But there is a Moon Pool in Ireland you know."

Rikki nodded, even though she didn't feel consoled at all. She tried to change the subject. "Man, Cleo must have been out late last night to still be asleep." She yawned. "Actually that's not such a bad idea. You wanna go get a juice?"

"In a minute," replied Bella, giving her the look that Rikki had come to recognize as 'You do know that Zane will be there right?' But to Rikki's relief, Bella pressed on. "Do you think that, someday, we might be able to fix it?"

"What this?" Rikki gestured at the remains of their meeting place. "You're joking."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Bella muttered.

Rikki was annoyed at her for saying that. She didn't want to start hoping when there was no chance. "So how 'bout that juice?"

"Okay, sure," Bella consented. Then she grinned. "Bet I'll beat you back."

"Oh, you can try," Rikki grunted, dunking her head under the water. Bella shook her head in exasperation and followed her a second later.

Water swirled around them as the two raced out of the narrow opening under the water, their tails flapping up and down. Swimming as fast as possible they made it to the shore in a minute flat.

When they were both dried off, they walked over to _Rikki's. _Bella was wearing an orange tank top and light shorts. Her hair was in a ponytail with a long brown clip holding it in place. Rikki's hair was in braids and she was wearing a dark red top with light shorts. It wasn't a very busy day inside _Rikki's_, and there were only five or so people sitting at tables.

Among them was Nate.

Sitting in the left corner of the café with two other boys he started being obnoxious the moment the two girls entered. "Ah Bella! Just the woman I wanted to run into." He jumped to his feet and walked straight over to her. Instinctively, Bella took a step back, and then felt embarrassed.

"What do you want Nate?" She asked.

"We got a band practice later today; ya'd better show up fer this one. I've gotta new song I wanna show ya."

"Oh can I come? I love to see you make a fool of yourself," Rikki laughed, looking over from the counter she'd gone to.

"Eh sure, the more chicks the better," Nate grinned. Rikki rolled her eyes and gestured to Bella.

"Do you think Zane would mind if I just made my own smoothie? There isn't anyone here," Rikki muttered, looking side to side of the counter.

"Zane might not-" came a voice. Bella and Rikki looked over to see Sophie stalking out of the room in the back –"but I would."

Rikki just managed not to do a groan. Bella asked, "I thought you were going with Will somewhere today?"

Sophie's eyes narrowed, she was obviously miffed that Bella knew about that. "Change of plans."

She didn't explain, but walked over to the counter, wearing black, tight sweats and a black apron. "What do you want?"

"Let's see, second after getting away from you would be a banana smoothie," Rikki replied, giving a faint, mean smile.

Sophie smirked and turned around to start the blender. "What about you?" She looked at Bella.

"Uh, I'll have a strawberry," Bella muttered, sounding distracted. She pulled on Rikki's arm and sat down on one of the tables around the corner and out of sight of Nate's group.

"That was fun," Bella muttered. "Do you think we should try Cleo's mobile again?"

"Sure," Rikki said. She pulled out her own phone and dialed, putting it to her ear.

"Hi Rikki!" Cleo answered almost immediately.

"Listen Cleo, we're at the café are you-"

"Rikki, I've got something really _really _great to tell you, you're gonna freak!"

"Great," said Rikki, bemused. "What is it?"

"I wanna tell you in person," Cleo answered in a voice saturated with eagerness. "You and Bella, wait for me at the café. Bye!" Rikki heard Cleo hang up.

"Okay, bye," Rikki muttered.

"What?" Bella asked over the noise of the blender.

"Cleo said she's got something really important to tell us. She was like, freaking out. Must be something good."

"Hmm, wonder what?" Bella said. She looked up as Sophie set their drinks on the table, and then looked back at Rikki.

"No idea." Rikki pulled out a straw and began to absently stir her banana smoothie. She sipped at it and then spoke again. "She sounded pretty excited."

"Nice."

Neither girl could find anything more to talk about so Bella went back to thinking about Will. They drank their juices in a detached sort of way, keeping quiet. The only noise in the café was Nate's group on the other side of the room.

Their reverie was broken by the sound of a door opening in back of them. Rikki glanced up, and then quickly looked down. Zane had just come out from his office. Rikki was glad that she'd chosen to sit across from Bella rather than next to her, because if she hadn't she would have been looking right at Zane. That would have been awkward. She didn't want him to start thinking that she was being near him on purpose. The thought filled her with horror.

However, she kept an eye on him instinctively, hoping he wouldn't notice her. She saw Sophie walk over to him as he came out, and quickly looked back over to Bella, not wanting either of them to see her watching. But she turned slightly to look out the corner of her eye.

When he passed her, Rikki saw him give her a casual kiss on the cheek before Sophie went into his office.

Rikki coughed as her juice went down the wrong tube and some of it came out her nose. Choking, she gagged and then managed to breathe again. She cleared her throat several times and her eyes watered.

"Rikki are you okay?" Bella asked, surprised. She had obviously missed the exchange.

"Oh my goodness, _blllla _yeah I'm fine." Rikki couldn't believe what she'd just seen. The way they'd done it, the way _he'd _done it suggested that they were _together. _Sophie and Zane? What was he thinking? Had Sophie addled his brains?

Rikki could feel fury gathering up inside of her. She was going to go and smack the brains out of that evil snob Sophie! Rikki actually started to get up from her chair when she heard someone walk into the café and turned to see Cleo entering. She didn't know why but the sight brought her back to her senses. What was she thinking? Zane and she, Rikki, weren't together, she didn't _want _to be together, and he could be with whoever he wanted. Even if it was a rat like Sophie.

Rikki sat back down, shaking her head at Bella's questioning gaze, and looked up to see Cleo sit down in the spot next to both her and Bella.

"Hi! Rikki guess what! E-"

"Do you want a juice Cleo," Rikki asked in annoyance. She didn't feel like hearing any news right now, no matter how great it was.

Rikki peered over to see what was going on over the counter. Zane was nowhere in sight, but Sophie was there again, leaning against the wall. Rikki stood up and walked over to the counter, planning to ask a controlled question, and then-

"Rikki! I have got to talk to you," Cleo cried out, extremely miffed at Rikki's behavior. She and Bella got up to follow their friend over to Sophie.

Rikki wasn't listening to them. She stood next to the counter, waiting for Sophie to come over to her, and Cleo and Bella followed.

"Rikki this is probably the biggest news of our lives you-" Cleo's words were cut off as she put her arms on the counter and knocked over a cup of water. Instantly it spilled over Cleo and Bella's hands, soaking them.

All three friends looked at each other in horror and Rikki grabbed them and shoved them towards Zane's office. Cleo and Bella barely made it inside the door before they both collapsed to the floor with mermaid tails.

Cleo landed hard just before Bella but still managed to twist her tail to slam the door shut. "Ow," she complained.

"Whoa," said Zane getting to his feet as he saw the two mermaids collapse in his office.

Cleo looked up, embarrassed. "Uh, sorry, accident. It was either here or out there." She turned her attention to her tail. "Oh great." She started to run her hands down the scales, trying to get it dry. Bella looked at her and followed suit, trying to get the water off of her skin.

"Here," Zane muttered. He walked over to the cabinet next to them, reached up, and pulled a small stack of towels down. "Use these." He tossed one to each of them.

"Thanks," said Bella, surprised. She picked up her towel and began to dry her tail off quickly.

"Is Rikki with you?" Zane asked, sounding genuinely curious.

Both girls paused in their wiping and looked up at him. "Why do you wanna know?"

"I'm just wondering."

Cleo sighed. "She's just-"

The door opened loudly and Rikki came in furiously. "Right there," finished Cleo gesturing.

Rikki wasn't listening. "What the heck were you guys doing? I can't think of two worse people to know our secret than Nate and Sophie!"

"Hey relax it was probably just an accident," said Zane.

Rikki turned her rage-filled gaze on him. "Don't you tell me to relax," she snapped.

The room was silent.

Sophie's voice stole the awkwardness. "Hey! What are you doing in there?"

"Oh great," Zane muttered. He walked past Rikki, opened the door, and then quickly closed it behind him.

Not wanting to hear anything said between them, Rikki rounded back on her friends. "Cleo be more careful! We're just lucky that-"

"Rikki it was an accident," Bella defended. "It could have happened to any one of us."

"Not if that one of us was paying attention!"

"Rikki what's up?" Cleo asked in amazement. She'd known her friend long enough to tell when something was wrong. "You're overreacting." She watched Rikki's face, which flushed ever so slightly, and then was distracted by her tail disappearing and changing back to her legs. She wanted to add "-Even for you," to that sentence, but knew that that would just make Rikki worse. She got up from the floor instead.

Rikki's eyes widened with fury and as Bella's tail disappeared, opened the door in back of her, slammed it, and then stalked past the quarrelling Zane and Sophie.

She all but ran out of the café and knocked someone over on her way. She was so furious! What was his problem? How could he-

How could he what? It took her a second to process that she didn't really know why she was angry. It couldn't be that Zane and Sophie were together could it? Wasn't- wasn't that a good thing? It meant that Zane wouldn't be pestering her anymore. It meant that he'd moved on too.

Rikki nodded to herself. _Stop being stupid. _Suddenly she felt bad about the way she'd exploded at Bella and Cleo. They hadn't deserved that. She'd spilled water on herself tons of times.

She turned to walk back to the café and then stopped. She didn't want to go back in there. Luckily she didn't have to, Cleo and Bella came out of the door and jogged in her direction.

Rikki fumbled for an apology. This wasn't her strong suit. When they were near enough, she forced herself not to stutter. "Guys sorry about that, I just got uh… carried away."

"Rikki don't lie to us," Bella said, her head tipped to the side.

"Yeah," agreed Cleo. "Something upset you."

"What would there be in there to upset me?" Rikki asked, and then wished she hadn't. That alone might make them suspicious of what had agitated her. Cleo raised her eyebrows and Bella glanced back at the café.

"Rikki it's okay," consoled Cleo, her good news momentarily forgotten. "You can tell us."

"Tell you what?" Rikki asked, trying not to let her annoyance show. Already she felt that she needed to be alone. "Sorry guys, I-I wanna be alone for a bit."

She turned from the hurt expressions on her friend's faces and started to walk back to the ocean. There was only one place she wanted to go; straight make to Mako Island.

It didn't take her long to get there. The ocean was right there, and she swam somehow even faster than before. The water bubbled up around her, swirling out behind her and making strong currents. She made it to the Moon Pool in record time.

When she surfaced in the water, her first view of the place made the breath rush out of her. Of course she'd wanted to go to Mako Island because this was the place where magic happened. It was the place that she'd practically lived at for two weeks or more, in this dark cave. She'd become connected to it before. She could have spent hours here without getting bored. The power here was amazing.

_Was _amazing. That was the problem. The magic was gone. She could see it as clearly as she'd seen Zane kissing Sophie.

Tears blurred her gaze, mixing with the water on her cheeks. She was surprised and angry with herself for crying. Crying was for wimps. She wanted the power here back. She wanted it _back. _Further anger made the water slowly heat up around her. This was _Sophie's _fault. This was all Sophie's fault!

Rikki sighed and put her arms up on the rock bordering the pool. Sometimes she wished that things hadn't changed. Sometimes she wished that- _Stop thinking that! It's ridiculous, _she scolded herself.

She wondered why she'd even come here, it held nothing for her, but she couldn't think of any other place to go. So she pulled herself out of the water and dried herself off.

She thought about spending the rest of the day here. Her dad wouldn't miss her, and hopefully her friends knew enough to leave her alone for now.

Okay, apparently her friends _didn't _know enough to leave her alone, because they came up through the Moon Pool about an hour later.

"You're still here?" asked Bella. "Never mind, of course you are. Rikki really, what's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong," said Rikki casually. By now she felt much better, although she was pretty sure that as soon as her friends began to interrogate her she'd break down again.

"Listen Rikki," began Cleo. "I think I've got some news that will really make you feel better."

"I feel fine," Rikki protested. "Wait, what news?"

"Yeah, you know I'd kind of like to know myself," laughed Bella. Both she and Rikki turned to Cleo expectantly.

Cleo waited a dramatic moment. "Okay! Emma's coming back!"

End of Episode 1


	2. Episode 2

Thanks for all the great reviews! This is my first fanfiction so thank you so much! Please enjoy Episode 2.

H2O JUST ADD WATER SEASON 4

EPISODE 2

(Waiting… and Worrying)

_I've got a special power_

_That I'm not afraid to use._

_So come on this is my adventure_

_This is my fantasy_

_It's all about living in the ocean being wide and free!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld!_

_Land or sea_

_I've got the power if I just believe!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld!_

_Land or sea_

_The world's my oyster I'm the pearl!_

_No ordinary girl!_

Bella was so anxious over the next day that she hardly got any sleep. She spent most of her time pacing the floor, feeling stressed. It had been just yesterday that Cleo had sprung the "wonderful" news about their good friend Emma's return. Bella had been confused, and she'd spent the rest of the day feeling worse and worse as Cleo and Rikki told her about their old friend Emma.

"Oh and Emma did this, and Emma did that." That was all that Bella could remember from yesterday. They'd elaborated on all of the adventures they'd shared; how Emma had become a mermaid with them, how they'd discovered the wonders of being a mermaid, how they'd very nearly given up their powers after some doctor had discovered them, and so much more! Bella didn't even want to think about all of it. They'd talked so much about their defeat of Charlotte and their old lockets that their experiences with Bella had almost started to seem a little pale in comparison.

What was worse, Cleo and Rikki hadn't even noticed Bella's despondency. Cleo had just kept chattering about the call Emma had sent saying that she would be here in about a week from today!

Bella didn't know what was worse; the fact that they'd never told her about their best friend Emma, or the terrible feeling that she was going to be shoved aside the moment that Emma arrived. Why _hadn't _they told her about Emma? She thought that they were her friends!

Of course, Bella had said none of this while Cleo and Rikki explained a whole bunch that they had conveniently not told her before.

She tried to comfort herself with the fact that she and her friends had saved the world together. But the way that they were going on about Emma! I mean it was like she was a goddess or something! Honestly, who _cared _about Emma?

_Okay, maybe I'm being a bit unfair, but what if they don't want to be around with me once she's here? What was I; their replacement for the wonderful Emma?_

Outside of her house, the wind was blowing at the palm trees, and the waves on the beach across her home were swirling up and down. The view outside her room looked like an average, beautiful day on the Gold Coasts of Australia, but to Bella, everything had changed. She laid her chin on her hand and stared out the window of her room. She felt awful. She wanted to talk to a friend who she knew wasn't going to fade away.

Just then, her cellphone rang. Bella looked over at it forlornly and peered at the name.

_Oh! _Bella grabbed the phone and flipped it open.

"Will!" She cried out. "Will, I have to talk to you!"

Even though she'd spent the last day gabbing with Cleo endlessly about old tales with Emma, Rikki was still in shock. The last year of her life had been so devoid of thoughts of Emma that Rikki felt like she barely remembered her old friend. After the first two weeks of mourning over her absence, Rikki had been thrown into a huge plot with a new mermaid, and water, and full moons, and asteroids. She'd been too busy to think about Emma, which made her feel a little bad. Actually, what made her feel worse was that she and Cleo no longer wore their lockets. She felt like she should put it back on, but wondered if she was being silly.

Rikki went over to her tiny jewelry box in her tiny room and pulled open the top drawer. She peered at the silver locket with the red gem and picked it up by the chain. She opened the tiny little door and looked at the small picture. She bit her lip when she saw the picture of her, Cleo, and Emma. Just looking at her old friend's face shot a flood of memories through Rikki's head. She remembered them getting trapped in the caves on Mako, finding the Moon Pool and trying to swim out. It made Rikki laugh to think of how nervous Cleo had been.

She remembered Emma finding Gracie's locket in the Moon Pool, the discovery of how the full moon affected them, and meeting Miss Chatamn.

Miss Chatamn! They hadn't seen her for a year! Or Ash! It would be fun to see old friends again.

Rikki thought back to the whole story of her locket. She thought of Emma saving Zane's life, the time that she and Zane had gotten stuck on that roof together, the red dress, and when she'd first seen the locket in the window. Oh, and Miriam!

Rikki smiled as she thought back on all of this. It was really odd to remember Zane jumping into the water to get this locket for her. Rikki fingered the red gem on the locket. It held so many memories! She set it down on top of its box momentarily, reached up, and pulled off the crystal necklace. Then she set it down on her dresser and put the locket back on. She had to smile as she fixed it back in place. She put the crystal necklace in the locket's place in the box.

Just before she left her room, she looked back at it. She flash-backed to when they'd found it in the cave, and when Will had made it into a necklace for her. She remembered the huge fight she'd had with Zane after he'd taken it. She paused for a moment. Then she left the room.

She didn't see her dad anywhere as she made her way through her house. He must have been at work. She walked out the front door and went outside.

The wind blew her hair back as she walked across her yard. After grabbing a Popsicle out of their freezer she walked back around to their yard and sat on the porch, licking it absently. She was _so _glad that she had finished Highschool! Rikki realized now, after the burden of school had now been released, that it had been more stressful than she'd realized at the time.

School brought her back to Emma. She wondered how her friend had taken school with that world trip; probably a private tutor. Rikki could guess that her friend had gotten perfect grades. Emma had always been a stress-head. She couldn't wait to see her again!

Rikki couldn't help fingering her locket. It felt really different from the crystal; heavier, and larger. After a year of wearing the other necklace, Julia's locket felt foreign.

She realized that she felt bad about taking off the crystal, and she wasn't even sure why she had. It had just felt right; like how it had felt right to take off the locket when they'd gotten the crystals.

She wished that there was a way that she could wear them both.

Cleo had been hanging out with Lewis all day, going over everything he'd learned at his college. She was surprised at how difficult it was, and after about two hours, she was done.

"Okay," said Cleo, setting his papers down on his desk. "Can we go do something fun?"

Lewis looked up at her in amazement. "What can we possibly do that's more fun than this?"

Cleo had to laugh, and she turned away. "Come _on _Lewis! How can you just sit here when Emma's going to come back to Australia next week? I can't _wait!_"

"Well if you aren't going to want to sit down until Emma comes than you're probably going to be really tired when she finally gets here."

Cleo sighed and sat down on a couch amongst all of the folders and binders. "Sorry, but I'm just _so excited! _She's my best friend!"

"Oh yeah, so you told Bella and Rikki yesterday right?"

"Right," Cleo said.

"What were their reactions like," laughed Lewis, copying a couple of notes down.

"Rikki _totally _freaked out," Cleo grinned, remembering. "She's probably just as excited as I am right now. And Bella was-" She stopped suddenly. For some reason, she couldn't remember what Bella had been like.

Cleo concentrated hard. She could remember chatting about all of their experiences with Emma, but she realized that Bella hadn't contributed much to the conversation. Well… of course she hadn't. Bella didn't even know Emma. Cleo felt a flicker of guilt that she couldn't remember how Bella had taken the news. Surely she wouldn't feel like she was going to be left out, would she?

"What did Bella do?" Lewis asked.

I um… I don't really remember," she confessed sheepishly. She tried hard to think of Bella's expression when they'd told her about Emma, but she couldn't call it to mind. "I-I'm sure she was okay with it," Cleo got out. It was a total lie. She had no idea what her reaction had been like.

Lewis looked up from his paper. "Have you guys ever told her who Emma is?"

Cleo had to think hard to remember. "No. No we haven't."

"Why not," asked Lewis in surprise.

"Well-" it was also quite hard for Cleo to find an answer to this question. "It-It just… never came up I guess. We found out that Bella was a mermaid really suddenly, and then we were being attacked by water and it just-"

"Never came up," Lewis finished, looking at her. There was nothing accusing about his tone, but it still didn't make her feel good.

"Yeah," said Cleo softly. "I don't know. Do you think that Bella will be all right about it? Be honest, Lewis."

Lewis shrugged with a worried expression on his face. "I don't know, but right now she probably doesn't feel too good. Maybe that'll change when Emma actually gets here though. We can introduce her."

"Do you think-" Cleo stopped talking. All of this talk was making her think of things that she never had considered before. "Do you think that Emma will be angry that we don't wear the lockets anymore? Actually, never mind, I don't think she'll be okay with it." She fingered her crystal, worried.

"Right, why did you guys take off the lockets anyway?" Lewis questioned.

"Well, we found them at the Moon Pool, and it was a really big discovery. It was like Rikki and I _knew _that it was the right thing to do. It was like it was- the _time _to wear the crystals, because of the comet and all of that."

She could tell that Lewis didn't really understand, and she doubted that Emma would.

"Well does it still feel _right _to wear the crystals?" Lewis asked almost skeptically.

"_Yes," _said Cleo forcefully. Then she paused. "Well… I don't know; maybe. But wasn't it a good thing that we wore them before?" She asked, trying to convince herself. "I mean, we had to save the world. They were _for _that."

Lewis obviously saw her distress. He came over and put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'm not making things easier am I?"

"No you're not," answered Cleo. "I-I think I wanna talk to Rikki." She pulled out her phone, from the pocket of her shorts and dialed her friend's number.

"Hello?" came Rikki's voice from the phone.

"Hi, Rikki, this is Cleo. I wanted to ask you…" She trailed off, and realized that she wasn't even sure what she wanted to say.

"Yeah?"

Cleo tried something different. "Do you think that Bella was okay with the news about Emma?"

"Um," came Rikki's reply. She was sitting on her porch still. "I-I don't know; I didn't think about it."

"I'm also worried about Emma. Do you think she'll be mad that we don't wear the lockets anymore?"

"Well, Cleo, to tell you the truth, I actually just put mine back on."

"You-you did?" gaped Cleo. "Why?"

"I'm not really sure," Rikki replied truthfully. "It just felt like the right thing to do."

Cleo smiled. So her friend _did _understand. "Yeah, kind of how it felt right to put on the crystals before."

"That's right. But I don't think that it's just because Emma is coming back. I feel like it's more because we've taken care of the comet."

Cleo nodded, and then remembered that Rikki wouldn't see that. "Yeah."

"It's like I _know _we're supposed to wear the lockets again, but I still feel like we should wear the crystals too!"

Cleo was so relieved to hear Rikki saying this that she let out a burst of air. "I feel the same way! Should I put my locket back on?"

"Actually Cleo," said Rikki, who was now back in her house. She sat on her bed. "I think that Bella would feel really worried if we both put our lockets back on."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Maybe you should keep your crystal on for now," Rikki suggested.

"Okay," agreed Cleo. "We'll see how everything goes. Thanks. I was just feeling really confused."

"Me too," Rikki confessed. "It's so weird that we're stressing like this over necklaces!"

Cleo laughed. "Well the crystals are more valuable than just about anything on this earth, and the lockets are- well… magic."

"Maybe we should go and talk to Bella," Rikki suggested. "You're right. I'm worried she might start to think we're going to abandon her."

"How do you think that Emma might feel when she meets Bella?" Cleo asked, annoyed with another problem.  
>"I hope they'll be fine. Bella makes friends fast, and Emma is usually okay no matter what happens."<p>

"Yeah, but I don't think she loves change," Cleo sighed. "Oh well, maybe it'll all work out easily. Thanks, I'm gonna call Bella and talk to her. I'll get back to you in a minute."

"Okay, let me know what she says. Bye."

"Bye," Cleo said. She closed her phone and looked up at Lewis. "I didn't think about all these problems before when I heard that Emma was coming back. I hope everything will be okay. How did my life get so complicated?"

"I think it might have happened when you, Rikki, and Emma found a magical pool that transformed you into mermaids with magic powers."

Cleo smiled. "Yeah, probably. Okay, I'm gonna call Bella." She flipped open her phone again and dialed the familiar number. She put it to her ear and listened to it ring.

It ring almost eight times before Bella's answer machine came on. "Hi this is Bella! I'm unable to answer! I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Cleo frowned and looked at the screen. For some reason, she got the sense that Bella wasn't just unable to answer. Scowling, she dialed again.

This time, Bella answered on the second ring. "Hi Cleo."

She didn't sound very happy.

Cleo decided to ignore this and continued. "Hey Bella! How are you?"

She heard the pause. "I'm fine, I'm hanging out with Will."

"Oh," said Cleo, a little embarrassed. "Well, Bella, I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday."

"Uh-huh." Bella still didn't sound very happy.

"Well I realized that when we were talking yesterday at the Moon Pool that maybe Rikki and I gave you the wrong impression."

"Oh?" came Bella's voice, coolly.

Cleo winced slightly. "Yeah, I don't know but maybe you were feeling a little left out."

"Who me?" Snapped Bella.

"Bella, you know that just because Emma's coming back you're not going to be like… left out. You're our friend."

"Am I?" came Bella's icy reply. "Apparently I'm not enough of your friend for you and Rikki to tell about your best mermaid friend Emma."

"Look Bella, I'm so sorry about that. She just never came up. We were so preoccupied. I mean, what with the water attacks and Ryan and Sophie and Zane and the comet. Well… it just never came up!"

"Oh, I wonder what would happen if I went away for a year on some world tour. Would you forget about me too?"

"Bella please! You're being ridiculous!" Cleo pleaded. "You're our friend! You helped us understand the mystery of the water tentacle and it was _you _that helped us fend off the comet! I'm sorry we never told you about Emma. I know it must have been a big shock when we suddenly sprung that one you, and I'm sorry! But you're just as important to us as she is!"

There was silence on the other end of the line, and Cleo wondered if they'd been disconnected. Then Bella spoke. "Are you sure that you're not just going to… I don't know… go off with Emma?"

Cleo almost laughed. Poor Bella! She must have been worried!

"No way!"

She heard a sigh on the other end of the phone. "Okay. So, Emma's coming next week?"

Cleo grinned happily. "Yep! Oh Bella, I'm sorry how you felt. And I'm particularly sorry that we didn't notice how you were feeling before. But I've just missed her so much and I'm excited to see her."

Bella smiled. "It's fine," she said into her phone. She felt remarkably better. "I shouldn't have been jealous. All right now, no offense, but I wanna get on with my date."

"Okay Bella! Bye! I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Bella hung up her phone. She put it back in her pocket and then smiled up at Will, who was walking on the beach next to her. "Okay, they understood I don't feel so bad anymore."

Will hugged her. "That's good. I think that you'll like Emma."

Bella laughed. "Yeah, who knows maybe I will."

End of Episode 2


	3. Episode 3

H2O Just Add Water Season 4

Episode 3

(Think of a name here)

_I've got a special power_

_That I'm not afraid to use!_

_So come on this is my adventure!_

_This is my fantasy!_

_It's all about living in the ocean being wide and free!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl,_

_I'm from the deep, blue underworld_

_Land or sea_

_I've got the power if I just believe!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl_

_I'm from the deep, blue underworld_

_Land or sea_

_The worlds my oyster I'm the pearl_

_No ordinary girl!_

_Nothing can ever beat swimming, _Rikki thought as she swam gracefully through the reef. The multi-colored fish swam leisurely around her. She could feel the warm rays of sun shining through the salt water. Her hair flowed out behind her head, clearing her vision. She passed a large coral and began to weave in and out of the reef.

Once she started seeing sharks she turned back the other way, pumping her heavy tail. She thought about heading around to Mako Island, but decided not to. It was always a little bit depressing to be in there now. She didn't want to think about it when she felt so happy. Just yesterday Cleo had informed her about everything Bella had said. Rikki was so glad that her friend understood now. Bella meant just as much to them as Emma did. The only thing that Rikki was worried about was the issue of the lockets and the crystals. If she wore the locket Bella would be mad. If she was wearing the crystal when Emma arrived, well, that would just create even more problems.

She grimaced at her negative thinking and closed her eyes, feeling the water flow smoothly past her eyelids. Everything seemed so much simpler when she was swimming. When she was swimming it felt natural and uncomplicated to be a mermaid. Sometimes she wished that she could just leave the land behind and live down here with her friends.

Out of sheer habit, she opened her eyes to see herself heading back towards Maco Island. She let out most of the air through her nose, and tipped herself upward to aim at the surface.

Her head broke the top of the water and she took several deep breaths. She was next to the beach facing the mainland; the waves were crashing down on the sand.

That was where she, Emma, and Cleo had first come onto the island. They'd gotten stuck on Zane's boat when it had run out of gas.

Rikki actually laughed, filling the air with a merry sound. She swam towards the beach, almost wishing that she could reenact that day. _It was a good thing that I stole Zane's sparkplug. Or we might never have become mermaids? _It was hard to remember doing that. It had been such a long time ago; and things had been so different!

Rikki swam up to the sand, ducking her head back under the water. It had been a really long time since she'd entered the Moon Pool from the caves up above. She dragged herself up the beach, collecting dry sand on her wet tail. She had another reason for going this way. She wanted to see if you could still _get inside _the cave that way. For all she knew, the cave-ins caused by Sophie and Ryan might have closed them up.

Rikki flipped herself over and squeezed her right fist over her tail. Steam rose up into the air and within seconds she was standing on her feet. Her hair was loose and curly over her shoulders. She flipped it back and hiked up the beach, making for the caves.

Vines curled down from trees and snakes slithered into bushes. This could be a very dangerous place for someone who didn't know where they were going. She continued hiking uphill until she got to the rocks. They were slippery and treacherous, a large factor that had played when the girls slipped into the deep hole.

Rikki remembered looking into the darkness of the cave the first time. It had been so scary then. Now she simply placed her feet on the rock and slid down.

As she hit the sandy floor, she realized that if the caves _were _closed up she'd be stuck down here. Wrinkling her nose at her foolishness she got to her feet, dusting herself off. Oh well, hopefully things would be fine.

She navigated the tunnels with lots of experience and it didn't take her long to find the right branch leading to the Moon Pool. Slowly she stepped up into the narrow tunnel and emerged into the wide cave.

It looked just the same except for the large rocks all around the tunnel she'd just come through. The crystals were still scattered in the sand and the dark rocks crumbled from their places.

But that wasn't what she was looking at. She was staring at someone who was sitting directly in front of the Moon Pool, facing away from her. He had dark hair and looked like he'd been there for a while.

She nearly choked, and she didn't mean to say it aloud. "Zane?"

Cleo smiled as she came in sight of Emma's house. Nobody had lived in it for a year. The doors were locked and the windows shut tight to stop any trespassers. But the outside was still finely painted and well-built. She sighed while staring up at it. It had been such a long time! She'd had to pass it every time she went this way, but after a while she'd just- stopped looking at it. At first because it was painful, and then because she'd had so much on her mind. But now she stopped on her way home and stared at it for almost five minutes. Oh! She wished it was next week right now! The days were crawling by so slowly! Could it really only have been yesterday when she was so worried about Bella reaction to Emma? It felt like a lifetime ago!

Biting her bottom lip she pulled out her mobile and started to dial. Her fingers slid easily over Emma's number and then she quickly texted a message.

_Hi! How r u? ive been sooo excited for u to come back! Where r u now?_

She closed her phone and waited for a reply, hoping it would be soon. She wanted to see her friend so bad!

Luckily, her txt ringtone went off about a minute later.

_Cleo! I've missed you sooooo much! I hope you guys haven't forgotten about me! Haha! Like I said before I'll be back on Wednesday next week. We are on our way back from Ireland where we stopped for a few days. Oh boy have I got stories to tell you!_

Cleo laughed nervously. Normally she would have teased at Emma's perfect use of grammar in her text messages, but Emma's last sentence had ruined the humor. Trying hard not to get down Cleo typed a message back.

_Um im pretty sure ur stories arent as crazy as mine are there is a LOT i have to tell u_

Glancing back at the message Emma had sent she winced at the words 'I hope you haven't forgotten me'. _Oh I'm being silly! Of course I didn't really forget Emma. I just had so much on my mind. Almost from the day she left I had water attacking me!_

Emma's new message came a lot quicker this time. _Well I bet your stories can't be as exciting as mine! I've been touring the world! By the way, how were your grades? Did Rikki manage to graduate?_

Cleo winced and quickly text back. _Yes rikki graduated that was rude emma & I did great ill bet u could get into any college u wanted em. But my stories are about u know our secret which I cant mention on a txt message. _

It was a little longer than before as she waited for her friend's next message. She hoped that Emma's parents trusted their daughter enough not to go snooping on her phone. Cleo's phone vibrated in her hand, and she quickly glanced down at it.

_Yeah, about that; I also have a couple stories to do with that. Ireland was really um… interesting. And Cleo there's something I've got to tell you that I'm not sure you'll be thrilled about. _

Cleo stared down at the message in shock. _Ireland? _But no… that was impossible wasn't it. _No it's not impossible. There's no such thing anymore. _She swallowed. What was this secret she wasn't supposed to be thrilled about? After quickly texting the question in she felt her fingers automatically dial Rikki's number. There was no one she wanted to talk to more right now. But Rikki's phone didn't even ring; it just went right to her answering machine.

_She must be out at Mako, _Cleo guessed. Just then her own phone rang. She glanced down at Emma's reply and slid her phone open.

The message made her mouth fly open and her eyes get as big as possible.

_Oh Cleo! I'm so sorry! There just wasn't any way I could keep it from them while we were all sleeping in the same room. My parents and my brother know everything!_

Zane looked over his shoulder as Rikki shouted out his name. She felt herself flush with rage at the unsurprised look on his face. Before he could say anything and get her on the defensive side she spoke first.

"What are you doing here?"

He glanced at her, completely unabashed. "Oh I'm sorry is this place off limits?"

"I-" Rikki stopped furiously, stunned by the question. Quickly she composed herself. "You've never come here before!" she snapped. Already she could hear the defensiveness in her voice.

"So?" He raised his eyebrows, that stupid grin already on his face.

"So what are you doing here?"

"Well this is the place you always come to be alone. I thought I might as well try it. Is that a problem?"

Absolutely speechless she opened her mouth and closed it again. The last thing she wanted to do was let him stay here while she wanted to be here, but there wasn't anything else she could say.

Grunting in annoyance she glared at the spot he was sitting at. That was _her _spot!

Now feeling totally unsure what to do with herself Rikki folded her arms in annoyance. After a bit of debating with herself she went over to some of the scattered crystals. Might as well clean the place up a bit right?

Rikki wasn't one to clean. Her room was so small that there wasn't any room for it to be messy, and she didn't really care about the rest of the house. She didn't have a mother to be fussy over messes, so cleaning was basically never on her agenda. However, she thought that this place deserved it; and she needed something to do. It would have made her look stupid to leave, but she didn't want to stay here either.

She knelt down and started sweeping the rocks over to the side. Rikki realized that doing this would actually make the place look better. She couldn't think of any way to restore the magic, but at least this was something. She could make it _look _like it had before.

Some of the rocks were too big for her to move alone, but she kept sweeping shards of the smaller ones over to the sides. They actually blended in with the walls pretty well, and she couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing?" Zane asked, glancing over at her.

She glared back. "What's it look like I'm doing?" She continued to move the rocks over to the sides.

"I never realized how much damage they did to this place," Zane said, looking back at the pool.

"Oh you think," hissed Rikki.

"But it looks like you should be able to fix it," he grunted, glancing at the rocks she'd shoved against the sides.

Rikki stared at him. "The Moon Pool doesn't even work anymore Zane."

He looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"The water doesn't bubble when the full moon comes in," she said, standing up and dusting her hands off. "The magic is gone."

She saw him look back at the water in shock, and then he turned back to her. "I'm sorry."

"It's a little late for that," she snapped and then took a deep breath. She so hated talking about the Moon Pool. It made her throat hurt and her eyes burn. But the thought of crying in front of Zane was unthinkable.

"You can't find a way to fix it?" he asked, amazed.

"Not everything can be fixed," she muttered, knowing that probably sounded ludicrous to him. "I don't know how to fix magic."

"Well… wouldn't you guys have lost your powers if the Moon Pool had lost its power completely?"

She stared at him, stunned. It took her a second to say anything. "Heck I don't know! Maybe; I mean, no! Well…" Rikki stopped talking. That-that almost _did_ sound logical.

He raised his eyebrows at her with that stupid, expectant look on his face.

"Oh, what would you know about it?" she snapped.

"It doesn't sound impossible," he shrugged.

"So what are you saying? This isn't one of your machines Zane. You're saying we just fix it? How?"

"I don't know," he said, looking a bit surprised. "I thought you knew this place."

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. "Well once you can think of some magical solution, tell me."

"Yeah that sounds about right."

"What?"

"All you need is a magical solution to a magical problem."

She just looked at him again, amazed. An odd idea had just popped into her head, connecting with a small event that had taken place a long time ago.

"I'm just saying."

She paused, and then let a deep breath out of her nose. "Yeah, all right." Rikki went back to her work, this time picking up crystals and peering at them intently. It went quiet for a long while, and then Zane spoke again.

"So what have you been doing over the summer?"

Rikki whirled around to face him. "Oh so now you're cheating on Sophie too?" she asked before she could stop herself. Immediately she wished she'd held her tongue.

"What?"

She inhaled quietly. "Nothing." She sat down a good ways from him, but a good distance for conversation. "How long have you and Sophie been together?"

He stared at her. "Why do you care?"

She forced herself to look as innocent and honest as possible, which was exactly the message she was trying to convey. "I'm just asking a question."

He shrugged, still looking at her, "A few weeks."

Suddenly unsure of what to say, Rikki fought the urge to glance away. "Great." She had a brief thought of why Zane wouldn't have changed the name of the café by now. It didn't make any sense. He could call it _Sophie's._

"Are you going out with anyone?" he asked, just as innocently as her.

"Nope," she said simply, grimacing slightly. "How's the café doing?"

"It's been going steady. Keeping it open was tough, but everything's alright now."

She nodded her acknowledgement. "Great."

It was silent again for a minute. "So why did you come in through the caves instead of the pool?"

Rikki pressed her lips together, suddenly not wanting to talk to him at all. "Just needed a change. How come I didn't see your boat on the beach?"

"I parked it on the other side of Maco."

She shook her head slightly in confusion. "Why?"

"I just needed a change," he said, mimicking her tone and grinning at her.

She looked away and let the silence begin to stretch again. "Okay well, I think I'm gonna be going." Standing up, she raised her eyebrows at him. He moved out of way and she moved over to his spot to dive. "See ya around."

She jumped in and hurried away as fast as she could. The reef was as beautiful as ever but she found herself hurrying away from it. She pumped her tail as hard as she could for the mainland.

The waters of the Moon Pool splashed blue and clear against the rock as Zane watched Rikki disappear. He stared after her for a moment, and then back over at the crystals still scattered in the sand. They stuck out blue and beautiful among the rocks Rikki had missed in her cleanup. He sighed, remembering her face, and then went over and began to continue her work. Guilt was gnawing at his insides as he picked up the blue gems. They seemed to glint with an inner light, shining slightly on the floor.

Zane shoved some more rocks over with his foot, thinking how he didn't have much time before he'd have to get back to the café. Sophie was great, but she wasn't good enough to satisfy all of the customers during their busiest hour. Besides, she'd be wondering where he'd got off to. He glanced down at his watch; it was nearly noon.

The sun was shining brightly into the cave through the top of the volcano. It made the water bright and made the gems glitter even more. He bent down and picked one of the larger crystals up, holding it in the direct path of the sun's rays.

Suddenly a bright flash of light shot around the cave, blinding his eyes briefly. He gasped and dropped the crystal, which clattered onto the stone and _shattered. _

Zane gaped at it, amazed. The light in the cave hadn't quite gone; all of the crystals on the ground were glittering brightly. Even the rocks had a blue glow shining in them, and he was sure that they still held crystals inside of them, unseen.

He turned back to the gem that he'd dropped. He tried to remember if the girls had ever said anything about them _breaking. _On the contrary, he was pretty sure that they'd said something about them _not breaking. _For some odd reason, he felt awful as he thought about the crystal shattering. His first impulse would have been to see if the other crystals really _would_ break, but he suddenly felt that that would be a terrible thing to do.

Again, he leaned down to examine the broken gem. Some of it was in tiny, blue shards now, but a few, slightly larger pieces still remained. Zane reached out his hand to pick them up, and something caught his eye. Embedded in the crystal was a thick, brown string, and hanging from it, into the open air was another tiny crystal, the same size as the ones that the girls wore around their necks. Fascinated, he pulled on the string, and it came free.

The cave went dark again as the sun passed over the opening in the volcano. All of the crystals looked exactly as they usually did.

Zane's eyes went back to what he'd pulled from the larger crystal. He looked at the crystal tied to it; it was a bracelet. The crystal was tied sideways into the rope. He gaped at it in astonishment.

Holding it tightly in his hand he bent down and unzipped the bag he'd brought with him. Inside was a pair of flippers and goggles. He put them on in a hurry, not even bothering to get into the snorkeling suit, and leapt into the Moon Pool.

Zane managed to hold his breath until he got out of the cave, and then swam quickly for the shore. He ran along the beach until he got to his boat, and started it up, pumping it out to the ocean.

Rikki was heading over to Cleo's house after she'd changed into some better clothes. Kim was always looking at her appearance like Rikki was a slug. Rikki couldn't have cared less, but it always started a shouting match between Cleo and Kim, and today she didn't feel like waiting it out.

She'd just barely made it to her friend's house when her cellphone rang. She pulled it out in annoyance and, not even bothering to look at the number, put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Rikki," came a voice. She stopped short. It was Zane. "Rikki I need to talk to you really quick."

She clenched the fist not holding the phone. "Zane really-"

"No, Rikki I found something at the Moon Pool and I need to show it to you."

"Oh-ok, where are you."

"Over at the dock, come fast." He hung up, and she stared at the phone, completely stunned. She put the phone away and then considered what to do. This whole thing sounded fishy, like he was just trying to hit on her or something, or even play some prank on her. But even though she wasn't sure she believed what he'd said about finding something, he'd sounded honest. Excited, yes, but also honest.

Shrugging, she turned around to head to the ocean. She was pretty sure she could get herself out of anything she didn't want to stick around for.

While Rikki was walking she thought over everything he'd said, intrigued. By the time she'd made it to the beach she was hurrying to the dock. She was surprised at herself, because she'd never thought she'd be hurrying to Zane ever again.

When she reached the boats, she had to go across the entire dock before she got to where Zane kept his boat. She was hoping that this was the right place; he did own several docks.

But he was standing right out at the end, near the water. She raised her hand to block the sun, and then walked over.

"Okay, so what's this all about?" She stared at him in surprise; he was soaking wet and grinning from ear to ear.

In answer, he held up a bracelet.

It took a while before he'd told the entire story to her. The whole time she could feel her skepticism growing. But there was obvious proof of his story, as he held the bracelet in his hand.

When he'd finished, she was totally silent, just staring at him. "Can I see it?"

He handed it to her, and she stared at the crystal on it. Then she lifted it to compare to the crystal necklace she'd worn this morning.

"So what does it mean?" he asked. She looked up at him.

"I have no idea. I thought we knew everything about mermaid magic, but-" she didn't need to continue. "I get it. These crystals are unbreakable; and who could've put this in _another _crystal?"

"It looks old," he said, looking at the worn rope on the bracelet and at the black string that was around her neck."

"Yeah it does." She took a deep breath, and handed it back to him. "All right I'll have to talk to the girls about this-"

"No," he said, cupping the bracelet back into her hand. "Keep it. I promised you I'd make it up to you one day."

She stared up at him, remembering when he'd stolen the very necklace that was around her neck. All she could get out was, "Thanks."

He smiled again. "I'll bet Bella and Cleo are gonna get a shock."

She smiled too. "Yeah, Emma's coming back next week. Now we'll have an even bigger story to tell her."

He laughed. "Wow. Say hi to her for me."

Rikki nodded. "I will; thanks."

It was silent for a few moments, and she awkwardly got out, "Well, I'll see you around."

"Yeah," he said, nodding. She said thank-you again, and then walked back up the dock. When she was out of Zane's sight, she started to run. _Just wait until they hear about this!_

End of Episode 3


	4. Episode 4

H2O Just Add Water Season 4

Episode 4

(Three Days)

"_I've got a special power,_

_That I'm not afraid to use._

_So come on this is my adventure!_

_This is my fantasy!_

_It's all about living in the ocean being wide and free!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl!_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld._

_Land or sea_

_I've got the power if I just believe!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl!_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld,_

_Land or sea_

_The world's my oyster I'm the pearl_

_No ordinary girl!_

"They're exactly the same," Will said, holding up Bella's crystal necklace and looking at the crystal bracelet in Rikki's hand.

"Yeah," grunted Rikki, holding the gem up to the light. "I don't get it. I mean, there are a bunch of crystals this size, but this doesn't make any sense."

Lewis held out his hand for the bracelet, and she gave it to him. "Are you sure this was how you found it? With the rope on it and all?"

"That's what Zane said," Rikki replied, going over to sit next to Bella on the couch. Will handed Bella's necklace back.

"I don't mean anything by this," he began. "But do you think that maybe Zane just got out one of the small crystals and tied the string onto it into a bracelet?"

Rikki glanced over at him. In all honesty, that had never even occurred to her; but it sounded possible. "I don't know, maybe. But why would he do that?"

"Maybe to get back on good terms with you," Bella shrugged. Cleo looked over at Rikki from her corner. She didn't want to say so, but she agreed.

Lewis, however, laughed. "No way. He'd never be able to make something like that. So the only other option would be if he had someone do it for him, which-"

"-I don't think he would do," Rikki finished. She sighed, and laid her head back on the couch. "Which means he must have been telling the truth."

"But that doesn't make sense," Cleo reminded her. "How could it have been inside a larger crystal?"

"I've been thinking on that. Zane said that the crystal that the bracelet was inside shattered when he dropped it. Maybe that's how someone got the bracelet inside and then somehow put it back together."

"That's impossible," Lewis objected. "These things are unbreakable."

"Maybe," Rikki shrugged. "We know that the rocks are, but Sophie and Ryan broke them. For all we know, crystals could be broken that way too."

"Rikki," Cleo said; she pulled off her own crystal necklace and dropped it. It clattered onto the floor unharmed. "They don't just _break _when someone drops them." She bent back down and picked it up.

Rikki sighed. "I don't know. It seems like every day things get more complicated."

"Tell me about it," everyone else in the room said in unison. They all laughed for a moment before Lewis suggested, "Let's go ask Zane for the details. If he wasn't telling the truth then he won't be able to answer. If he was telling the truth, then maybe we'll be able to figure out the truth once we get some more details."

(Day later)

"How many days Rikki?" Cleo groaned, laying back her head so that her neck could get some sun.

"Three, isn't it?" Rikki laughed. Then she groaned along with Cleo. "Three more days until Emma comes back." She laid back on her towel and stared out at the ocean. "I really don't want to have to wait." She yawned, "Didn't Ash go with her family?"

"Yep," Cleo said. "It'll be great to see him too."

They sat in silence for a moment, both of them running their hands through the sand. The beach was great. They'd found a nice, un-crowded spot next to the ocean. Ever since Rikki had broken up with Zane the café hadn't been their main meeting place; now, it was the beach. A few chilly breezes were blowing in off the waves, but it felt nice.

After having Zane show them exactly where he'd found the bracelet and then having him tell them everything exactly, they'd all agreed that he wasn't lying. Zane had even run a few hypothesis's over with them. Rikki had been happy to be proved right.

The sun felt really good on Cleo's skin. Despite all that was going on, she felt unstressed and relaxed. Even though it was taking forever for Emma to get here, three days really _didn't _feel like a long time. As excited as she was to see Emma, she was also quite worried about Bella and Emma. She was pretty sure that Bella would be okay, but Cleo wasn't looking forward to Emma's shock and possible dismay.

Trying to steer her thoughts away from that, Cleo closed her eyes and tried to soothe herself. She'd been worrying so _much _lately. When had been the last time when her worst problem was schoolwork?

"You know," Rikki started, Cleo saw her flip over onto her stomach. "We still haven't made our way out of that Locket vs. Crystal problem. I've been wearing my locket. But I realized that with that bracelet I could actually wear them both."

Cleo also turned over to stare at her. "That bracelet isn't your original crystal."

"I know," Rikki replied. "But really it doesn't matter which one I'm wearing. Don't you see? This is our solution!"

Cleo sighed. "Actually that doesn't sound like a bad idea. But how will Bella take it?"

"What is there not to be happy about? I'll still be wearing the crystal, but I'll have the locket on too! You could have Will make your crystal necklace into a bracelet!"

Cleo laughed. "That does sound cool. But Rikki-"

She could tell that her tone changed Rikki's mood. "What?" her friend asked, in an almost wary way.

"Are-" she stopped a little nervously. "Are you having second thoughts about Zane?"

She could see that the question made Rikki angry immediately. She opened her mouth furiously and her eyes got wide. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you thinking that _I _made up that story with Zane and the Moon Pool just so that I could spend time with him?"

"No I- of course not! Rikki I just meant that-"

"Even if I were it wouldn't be any of your business anyway. That's my choice Cleo!"

"I know! I'm sorry, that's not what I meant! I was just asking. I mean… Rikki! He stole one of the crystals! He cheated on you and-"

"I know exactly what he did and I don't need you to remind me!" Rikki turned away from her and stared up at the sky.

Feeling terrible for saying anything, Cleo winced. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Forget about it," Rikki grunted.

"I-"

"For_get _ about it," she snapped.

Swallowing back a lump in her throat, Cleo too, stared up at the sky. Guilt was gnawing at her, but also a good deal of hurt. Why did Rikki always have to explode at her like that? They were best friends. Without her, Cleo would never be able to puzzle out their complicated lives. Now, for some reason, Cleo felt that there were two different sides; Emma and Bella, and that she and Rikki were the ones in the middle.

"Hey guys!" Bella was making her way over the sand over to them.

"Is your practice over?" Rikki asked. Cleo winced at the hard tone in her voice. She was fingering her locket with both hands. Cleo saw Bella's eyes flick to the locket and then at the crystal still around Cleo's neck.

"Yep, it went great!" Bella said cheerfully. She sat down and scooted over next to Rikki. "Have you guys been here all morning?"

"Pretty much," Cleo yawned. "Did Sophie give you any trouble?"

"Not really; she hasn't been making things really difficult for our band. It's kind of weird actually, she used to put restrictions and limits on us nearly every day. But I saw her talking to Nate after the practice like he was her friend. When she saw me looking she ordered me out of the café."

"She can't do that!" Rikki said furiously, sitting up in shock.

"Actually she kind of can; I mean she works there. Running that place is her job."

Cleo sat up next to her friends. "That's so unfair. I liked it so much better when Ash owned that place." When she saw Bella look over at her, she realized that hadn't been the best thing to say, especially after the conversation she'd had with Rikki. But it was true; she had liked it better before all this drama with Rikki and Zane. They had always seemed to have the worst possible fights.

"Hey guys," Rikki began, in a way that made it sound like she was going to suggest something big. "How would you feel about changing our necklaces into bracelets?"

_Way to get right to the punch-line, _Cleo thought in annoyance.

"Huh?" Bella asked in surprise.

Cleo took a deep breath. "Bella, you know the lockets that we used to wear before getting the crystal necklaces? Well we don't know which one to put on."

"That never seemed to bother you before," Bella said, looking at her appraisingly.

Cleo winced.

"This is about Emma isn't it?" Bella grunted, looking down.

"Bella did you never wonder why we just took off the lockets and put the crystals on?" Cleo asked, feeling frustrated and nervous.

"Well, kind of," Bella muttered.

"It was because it was the time too, but now we just don't know which ones to wear," Rikki explained.

"We're just trying to be completely honest," Cleo added. "It feels like we should wear them both."

"So…?" Bella grunted.

"We thought that if we asked Will to change our necklaces into bracelets, then we could wear them both." Cleo watched her face anxiously.

"Why are you asking my permission?" Bella laughed, though there was an edge to it.

"Because it sounds like you have a problem with it," Rikki suddenly snapped. Cleo looked over at her, appalled. That wasn't the way she should have said it!

Bella's eyes flashed. "Do what you want! And do it with your precious Emma, not me!" She stood up and stalked away, ignoring Cleo's attempts to call her back.

"Nicely handled!" Cleo felt like shouting at Rikki.

Rikki also stood up, and not wanting to feel inferior, so did Cleo. "You weren't doing any better! You were just making it worse!"

"Why did you have to talk to her about it right now? She's still not used to the idea of Emma!"

"Okay next time you take over Cleo!" Rikki shouted now. "Then we'll never get anywhere." She whirled around and stalked away, which had really been Cleo's idea.

(Later)

Bella's eyes were already flooded with tears once she was out of sight of Cleo and Rikki. By the time she got home, she couldn't stop her sobbing. She felt like something had fallen from the sky and shattered her entire life. It seemed that the moment that she and her friends really got out of the trouble of saving the world, something had happened to break everything.

When she flung herself onto her bed, her crying really became uncontrollable. She didn't know if she really cared that they wanted to change their necklaces to bracelets so that they could wear their lockets, but it was really the reason why they wanted to that was bothering her.

Letting her tears soak her pillow, she thought back to that moment when she'd first stepped into the Moon Pool in Ireland. She could still remember staring at the open sky filled with stars. All of her memories of the times when people had almost discovered her secret were still razor sharp. Even though it had been hard, and was still unbelievably difficult, when she stepped into water it all seemed to be worth it.

_Why did this have to happen? Why didn't they ever tell me about Emma?_

It took a while before she had cried herself out, and when she was finished, she felt remarkably better. Wiping her eyes, she went into the bathroom and stared at her horribly blotchy face. Unable to wipe it clean with some water, she just opened the door and went back outside, holding her head high.

As usual, her house was empty. Her parents were rarely home. They were always busy. It was what had led to her childhood isolation. She'd moved from school to school every single year; so much that Cleo, Rikki, and Will were the only friends she'd ever had. She supposed that her parents might have finally noticed, because when they'd moved to Australia they'd taken another job. Even though it kept them working all the time, it allowed them to stay here.

Bella stared out at the ocean, which was always in view of her house, thinking about going for a swim. The problem was that that was the same thing Rikki and Cleo would do, and Bella wasn't ready to talk to them.

(Cleo)

_I'm such an idiot. I should never have gotten into an argument. _Far from being nervous about Emma and Bella seeing each other, it would be even worse if none of them were speaking to each other when she came back.

Cleo slammed the door to her room and sat on her bed, she would have liked to go for a swim, but that was what Bella and Rikki would do. So instead she had to run home and sit in her room.

A soft beeping sound suddenly met her ears, and she looked over at her computer. It was displaying an email message.

Eagerly, Cleo went over to it and clicked on her inbox with her mouse. She was surprised when she saw who it was.

_Hi Cleo! Emma asked me to send this while she went for one last swim in the Mediterranean. I wanted to ask you guys a few questions anyway. Does the café have new owners? Emma told me something about you mentioning that in one of your chats. By the way, we can't wait to get back over there. Emma's going crazy that she hasn't been to Mako Island in a whole year. How was your last year of school? Emma had a private tutor and passed with a 4.0! She's already been given almost three scholarships from colleges there. Say hi to Zane and Lewis for me!_

_ Ash_

Cleo stared at the last line. Far from being impressed that Emma had been offered three scholarships, it was odd to get a line from one of her best friends to say hi to Zane. But of course neither he nor Emma would know how much things had changed.

She clicked on the reply button and typed back;

_Hey Ash! It's great to hear from you. That's great about Emma. I'm sooo glad that you guys are coming back soon. Zane actually bought the café for Rikki and the two of them were running it until they broke up a few months ago. The details aren't important but I wouldn't talk about it in front of Rikki. She's still kind of touchy about it . Hurry back! Things are really different here without you guys. I'm so excited!_

_ Cleo_

She sent the message and then stood up from her chair. It was really nice to hear from Ash, but different too, like from a different mermaid world.

Cleo's door opening loudly behind her made her jump. Kim walked into the room, wearing one of Cleo's shirts and talking on a cellphone. She stopped dead when she spotted Cleo. "Oh um… by!" She spoke nervously into the phone and turned around, quickly closing the door behind her.

"Kim!" Cleo shouted, opening her door and racing down the hall after her sister. "Kim that's my top! Do you just pick things from my room whenever I'm gone? Kim!"

"Leave me alone!" Kim snapped, turning around. "This shirt was wasted on you anyway!"

Outraged, Cleo strode forward. "If it looks bad on me it'll look ten times worse you moron!"

"Don't you dare call me that! You're just jealous because Mum didn't invite you to come and live with her."

"I- what?" Cleo choked on the words. "What are you talking about? We haven't heard from Mum in almost a year."

"Well maybe you haven't," Kim smirked. "You're always out; too busy with your stupid friends. She calls me at least once a week. Too bad you're never home."

"What are you talking about? She hasn't been calling-" Cleo couldn't finish the words. She couldn't believe what her sister was saying. Could her mother really have called Kim while she was away? Had Kim just been too spiteful to pass on the message? Or… what if Kim was telling the truth and her mother just didn't want to talk to her?

"And last night, she asked if I wanted to come live with her and her new husband."

"Kim," Cleo said, a lot more quietly than before. "This isn't a thing to joke about."

"Ask Dad," her sister laughed. "Last night she called and asked to talk to me. He gave me the phone, and she asked if I wanted to live with her."

"I'm not going to ask Dad about that," Cleo snapped. "That would be a horrible thing to do. Don't you dare bring up this kind of stuff to him!"

"You can't tell me what to do," Kim said. "She's coming tomorrow."

"You are _such _a liar!"

"So prove it. You just don't want to believe that she offered it to me and not to you."

"I-I do _not!" _Cleo realized that the defensiveness in her voice was as good as a confession. "She did _not!_"

"Well I guess you'll have to ask Dad," Kim laughed. She twirled around and went into her room, knocking it behind her.

Cleo was too shocked and distressed to follow her.

(Rikki)

Even though Rikki went home and found herself completely alone, she didn't feel any better. Usually she went to Mako for solitude, but that was likely where Bella and Cleo would go, and it was too upsetting to be in there anyway. Sometimes though, even being alone didn't solve all her problems. It took her a second to realize that the emotion she was feeling was loneliness. She wanted someone to talk to. She couldn't speak to her friends and she laughed at the idea of trying to talk about this kind of stuff to her dad. For a brief moment, the thought crossed her mind to call up Will. He was always a great person to talk to; someone you could relate with. Problem though; likely that was where Bella would run, and Cleo would be with Lewis…

Rikki felt like punching her pillow, and then did just for the heck of it. Most of the time she thought that moving here, to the Gold Coasts, had been the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her dad must have thought so too, because this was the longest they'd ever stayed in one place. This place felt like _home. _But at bad times, like now, she wished that she could go back to that short time she remembered when her parents had been married _happily. _Without all of the arguments and then eventually the divorce. Rikki sighed, she missed her mother. She very rarely thought about it, but it was true. Sometimes she thought that the reason why she loved being here with friends was because it took her mind of certain things. Zane had too. She remembered when they'd lamented about their parents being split up. He'd confessed to her that even though he'd been rich, it hadn't stopped his parents from divorcing. Rikki wondered if he ever saw his mom now and then, but he'd never spoken about her; not in the three years they'd been together. Maybe she was like Rikki's mother; on the other side of the world. After the divorce it was like her mother had died. Not a card, or a call, or even a letter.

_Why am I thinking about this? I never think about this? _

(Emma)

Emma blinked open her eyes and sat up, startled. It took her a second to remember where she was; on a plane heading to the Philippines. Her parents had had to beg her to stop there. She was so eager to get back to Australia. The longest time they'd been able to weasel out of her was two days, and then they would finally start heading to the Gold Coasts.

"You okay?" Ash asked beside her. She looked up at him, and realized that she'd been asleep on his shoulder.

She rubbed her eyes. "Yeah I'm fine; I just had a crazy dream." Briefly, she tried to remember what she _had _been dreaming about. It was very vague and distorted. She remembered that she'd been swimming; yes she'd definantly been swimming. But, it hadn't been Ireland –the place that she usually dreamed about- It had been back in Australia. She could tell because of the sharks and the reef. That place was engraved in her memory.

The rest of the dream just got even fuzzier. Emma had seen the water _thing _that had attacked her in Ireland. It had wrapped itself around her and she hadn't been able to escape. What was funny was that a girl had rescued her. At first, Emma had thought it might be Cleo or Rikki because she'd had a lurid orange tail, but now that she thought back to it, she didn't think so. The girl had had very long, golden thick hair. She'd had shining blue eyes and tan skin.

Emma shook her head to clear the thought. She was just excited about getting back home, that was all. The water tentacle she'd seen in Ireland hadn't been bothering her for months, but she still couldn't forget it. It was part of the reason why everyone in her family had found out about her secret. When you had a column of water coming after you every full moon, it was hard to hide things. Ash had helped her out a lot, but eventually she hadn't been able to explain why she kept leaving without excuses, bolting for the bathroom whenever she touched a drop of water.

Her parents had actually taken things surprisingly well, and Elliot too. At first he hadn't talked to her for a few days, furious at the massive lie she'd supposedly told. But once he was done sulking he'd admitted to Emma that he'd suspected that something was going on all along. Her parents had actually been happy once they'd gotten over their shock. They had a daughter who turned into a mermaid when she touched water; cool.

Really they'd only been unhappy about how long she'd kept it a secret, but her mother had taken her aside later and confessed that she, too, wouldn't have told anyone. They still didn't know that Rikki and Cleo were mermaids, but Emma knew it wouldn't be hard to figure out. They would at least eventually guess that her two best friends _knew _about it.

"This is your flight attendant speaking. All electronic devices must be turned totally off. We are beginning our descent."

Emma switched off her phone, and then lay back against Ash's shoulder. He stroked her hair with one hand gently and she closed her eyes again. He'd been such a comfort for the last year, particularly where the water tentacle was concerned. She still had no idea what had been the deal. The first attack had been in Ireland while she was swimming, and they really hadn't ceased until two or three months ago. She had a feeling that the same thing may have happened to Cleo and Rikki. Fervently, Emma hoped they were all right.

"It's okay, just three more days. Two and a half really," Ash whispered to her.

Emma nodded, soothed by Ash's words. She'd been a little bit shaken up for quite some time. "That's right," she sighed as she closed her eyes. "Just three more days."

End of Episode 4


	5. Episode 5

Thanks for all your comments! I'm sorry that it takes me so long between chapters but I am so busy you wouldn't believe it. I'm also involved in this writing club that I have to constantly keep up with. Please enjoy! I really enjoy writing them! Again, really sorry with how long it took! That was seriously pathetic!

H2O Just Add Water Season 4

Episode 5

()

"_I've got a special power_

_That I'm not afraid to use._

_So come on this is my adventure!_

_This is my fantasy!_

_It's all about living in the ocean being wide and free!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl!_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld!_

_Land or sea_

_I've got the power if I just believe!_

_Cause I'm no ordinary girl!_

_I'm from the deep blue underworld,_

_Land or sea_

_The world's my oyster I'm the pearl_

_No ordinary girl."_

(Cleo)

"Kim? Kim do you have my phone?" Cleo threw open her little sister's door and then slammed it again. Nobody was in there. "Ugh!" Did _anyone _else on the _entire _planet have a sister as annoying as hers?

Cleo raced down the stairs, still calling out her sister's name. What was with her? Kim had he own phone! Why did she have to steal Cleo's? "Dad? Dad, Kim's taken my phone!"

At the bottom of the stairs, she nearly ran into Sam, whose expression stopped her in her tracks. "What?"

"Cleo your sister isn't here." Sam said, looking at Cleo curiously. "Kim said that she told you."

"What? Where is she?" Where had she run off with Cleo's phone?

"Cleo," came her Dad's voice. He was looking over from the couch. There was something- different looking about him. His lips were pressed tightly together, and he kept squinting. "I thought… Kim told you."

"What?"

It was silent, and then Sam raised her head. "Cleo your mother came and took Kim to come live with her."

For a second, all Cleo wanted to scream was, "Liar!" But as the words sunk in, she remembered the conversation she'd had with Kim yesterday. Instead, the only sound that escaped her was a small and feeble, "What?"

"Cleo," her dad said quietly. "If… you _did _want to go- to, I would be okay… you don't have to spare my feelings."

It took her a moment to get what he was saying. When she found her voice she managed to choke out, "No, Dad, I would never want to leave you and Sam. It's just, a bit of a shock."

"I know sweetheart," Sam murmured, pulling Cleo into a hug. Cleo could feel her eyes stinging, and blinked hard.

When she managed to detangle herself, Cleo wiped her eyes and murmured, "Did she want to go Dad?"

"Well I-" her father looked down and she could see how hard it was for him to talk. "I- yeah that's what it looked like. She- we said our goodbyes and then Kim left."

"Did- and she didn't stay to talk to me or…" Cleo found that she couldn't finish.

"Your mother didn't want to stay long I guess. I'm sorry you didn't know about this. Kim said…" Sam trailed off.

"No," Cleo muttered. "She did tell me, but I didn't believe her."

Why had her mother left without even saying hello? It had been almost two years since she'd seen her. _Did I do something wrong?_ Why had her mother invited her little sister to live with her and not Cleo?

(Rikki)

Oddly enough, Rikki didn't feel embarrassed when she sent out the forward to Cleo and Bella asking if they wanted to meet up at Mako Island. The argument that they'd all had yesterday had been pointless; plus, she was getting sick of just sitting around in her room. The day that all three of them hadn't been speaking to each other had been one of the most boring in her life. She didn't want to go to the café, she couldn't go to her friend's house, and the other two might have been at Mako Island, so Rikki couldn't go there either.

To her relief and partly to her surprise, both of them replied within ten minutes of her text message. Maybe they'd been just as bored this morning as Rikki had.

Once she got the word that they would go, Rikki texted back a challenge. _Beat you there!_

Immediately she ran out her front door, raced over to the pier, and dove into the ocean.

The water was clear and cool, refreshing her in a way that nothing else could as her tail grew out behind her. She didn't take time to savor the moment though, and instead beat her tail as fast as she could.

While paddling at top speed through the ocean, she made shapes and swirls in the water, looking back at the trail of bubbles that followed her. People always said that you couldn't run away from your problems, and they were right. But you could _swim _away from them; if you were a mermaid. Everything that she didn't want to have to think about faded away beautifully. _This _was what was good about being a mermaid. Despite all of the complications, it would always be the best thing that had ever happened to her.

When she surfaced into the Moon Pool water, she laughed. She'd gotten here first! What slowpokes!

Rikki swam over to the ledge, her heart pounding from her huge spurt of speed. That had probably been her personal record!

It took so long for Cleo and Bella to show up that she started to get nervous that they weren't coming, when suddenly both of them popped up out of the water.

"Hey," said Rikki, long since dried off and standing up. "Took you guys long enough. I've been here for like… three minutes."

"Sorry," said Bella, sounding surprisingly cheerful. "I swam as fast as I could. I actually thought that I was gonna win until I ran into Cleo."

Rikki laughed, and shot a grin at Cleo, but the second that she did, the smile slid off of her face immediately. Cleo wasn't looking at her. She was staring down at the water and blinking hard.

"Cleo what's wrong?" She said immediately, startled. Cleo looked up at her. The moment that Rikki saw her face she felt her heart drop.

Cleo didn't look good. Even though she'd just been swimming, her eyes were red and puffy and she was trembling ever so slightly, as if recovering from a good cry.

"What happened?" Bella gasped, having just seen Cleo's face.

Rikki's best friend took a ragged breath, and for a moment Rikki worried that she wasn't willing to tell them, but the words that came out of her mouth were the last that Rikki expected to hear.

"My mother took Kim away to live with her."

The words were so blatant and so honest that Rikki felt an instant, sharp pang of sympathy. Cleo looked down again, and the tears that started to fall down her face looked more painful than Rikki had ever seen. "Oh my gosh Cleo; really?"

Instantly she realized that that had been a terrible thing to say. Cleo nodded her head, tears falling into the water. "I-I don't know what to think. Why now, and-and why so suddenly. She never even called, not once. And then I came downstairs this morning, and… Kim was gone. D-dad was devastated; I could see it in his face. How-How could Mom _do _that to him?" She hiccupped, and then wiped her eyes with the back of her soaking hand. "Sam was upset to, but she was sorry for _me._" She was breathing raggedly now, and Rikki could feel her throat hurting just listening to it. "Why did my mother only talk to Kim? Did I do something wrong?"

Misinterpreting the looks on their faces, Cleo quickly said, "Not that I would have left to live with her, b-but I would have wanted to see her. What did I do?"

It was quiet, and all that you could hear were Cleo's quiet sobs, echoing around the cave. "I'm just so confused right now; about Emma and Bella and-" she hiccupped again. "And the lockets and the crystals. And then we had that stupid, pointless fight yesterday."

Bella didn't look offended at Cleo's words. In fact, she put her arm around her friend's shoulder. "You didn't do anything wrong Cleo. I'm sorry I made things so hard."

Rikki dropped into the water as well. "Cleo, your mom loves you. Whatever happened didn't concern you at all." The absolute certainty in her voice surprised even Rikki. How could she be so sure about that? How could she promise a thing that she really had no idea about?

For a brief moment she remembered something distant; her dad saying those exact words to her. Yeah yeah, they always promised that the divorce had nothing to do with you, but what kid didn't wonder that maybe… just maybe if they'd been more obedient and easier to deal with than their parents might not have broken up.

Cleo took a deep breath. "No, guys, I shouldn't be blubbering about this to you. You guys came here to have fun and stop fighting. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Bella said quietly. "We want to know about things that trouble you. We want to help. A-And you know what? I'm going to help." Bella looked down. "I'm sorry that I've had such a problem with Emma. I was just sulking and making it worse for you guys and I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

It went quiet again as Cleo raised her hand to pat Bella's arm, still sniffing. Rikki paused and then said hesitantly, "Guys I'm sorry for snapping at you yesterday. I've just been…" She trailed off. What? Confused and angry about watching Zane kiss Sophie? She'd moved on. It hadn't mattered to her and she didn't want it to. But why was it so hard to watch that _he _had finally moved on too? It shouldn't be, she told herself sternly. Forget about it.

"No Rikki, you don't have anything to apologize about," Cleo said.

"Yeah," Bella murmured. "You didn't do anything. In fact, I'd say that you're always the one to deal with things best."

Rikki grinned. "Well I am just like that aren't I? Kidding!"

Cleo gave her a watery smile and then she straightened up. "Okay, guys; can we make a pact? Let's promise that we won't let this kind of thing come between us. Emma is coming tomorrow and I'm really really happy about that. She's a part of this, just like you are Bella. We _all _need each other." She looked at Bella. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay with this?"

Bella sighed. "Yeah. I'm sorry guys. I was just frustrated and shocked and worried and-" She shook her head slowly. "Yeah I was being a jerk guys."

"No you weren't," Rikki said. "We should have been more considerate about the way we told you."

Bella smiled back at her. They sat, floating in the water in silence until she said, "Okay, so who are we gonna ask to make our crystals into bracelets?"

Rikki and Cleo laughed. "Will of course," Cleo said happily. "He'll make them even better than before. So can we all promise to trust each other." She put her hand out and Bella placed her hand on top of Cleo's. They both turned to look expectantly at Rikki.

"Oh we're not gonna do that stupid cheering thing are we?" She groaned. They laughed and Rikki put her hand in.

(Next day)

"That is just, unbelievable," Rikki said in amazement, lifting up the small, black bracelets with the gem tied in the middle. "Wow, Will; it's amazing."

"Thanks Rikki," Will said, grinning as he fastened one of the bracelets on Bella's wrist.

Cleo smiled, glad to see everyone happy; it was happening less and less now.

"What time is Emma's plane arriving?" Rikki asked, looking over at her.

She felt her stomach do a small swooping sensation, and could barely get the words out. "At precisely 3:46," Cleo laughed. "She didn't specify."

Will grinned and took the crystal that Rikki used to wear, now made into a bracelet, off the desk. Cleo saw her look at it, and then hesitate.

"What?" said Bella in surprise, also watching her face.

"Um actually, I was wondering if I could keep the other one," Rikki admitted, her eyes flickering over to the bracelet that had just been found.

It went silent, but instead of blushing, Rikki glared around at them all defensively. The crystal that she was referring to looked different than the rest. Will had applied the same, small and black string to their new bracelets as he had the necklaces, but the other one had a thicker brown rope tied around the gem.

"Why does it matter?" asked Lewis, speaking for the first time and looking around at them all. "We can give the one Rikki used to wear to Emma."

Cleo winced; he was always the peacemaker. In truth, he might not even know why everyone was so tense. Didn't the fact that _Zane _had given Rikki the bracelet qualify for anything? Or was Rikki even thinking about that? But after their previous argument, Cleo was not eager to broach the subject again.

"Okay sure," said Will, picking up the other one and tying it around Rikki's wrist, who was still holding Cleo's gaze.

Realizing that Rikki wasn't going to admit anything, Cleo lowered her gaze to avoid a fight, though she could feel her curiosity burning. Why did Rikki have to be so difficult?

"Okay, done," Will said triumphantly. "You guys officially wear the crystals as bracelets now."

"Yeah," Cleo said, smiling, touching it and then her locket and taking a deep breath. "So you guys up for making Emma's homecoming party the best ever?"

Rikki and Lewis grinned. "Yeah!"

Bella smiled. "Oh man guys I'm nervous!"

Cleo sighed, "Don't be nervous Bella. Emma is awesome. I have a feeling you guys are gonna get on really well."

Bella was quiet, and then she smiled, "Yeah, maybe."

"So read the guest list out again," Rikki laughed, "I don't think we invited quite everyone in town."

"Maybe we missed one or two people," Will said. "You guys don't mind that Sophie will be there do you? She's coming with the Bennets."

"Well we couldn't really expect her to stay out of it when it involves you," Rikki muttered. "She's only one of the nosiest people in the world."

"She isn't someone you can really trust," Will admitted, looking away.

"Oh well, we'll have fun," Cleo said quickly. Suddenly she felt excitement swelling up in her. "_Guys I'm so excited_!"

Cleo saw Rikki's face mirror her own. "I know! It's been too long!"

The rest of the day couldn't pass quickly enough. The group left Will's shack and made their way over to Cleo's house. They wanted to make it a surprise party, so it was going to be taking place at Emma's home. Cleo's dad had a key to the Gilbert's house, so they were going over to get it from him and set the place up.

"Dad!" Cleo called as she opened her front door. Her father hadn't really improved from yesterday; no one had spoken at breakfast. Cleo was extremely grateful that Emma was coming home now, otherwise she would have had nothing to keep her mind off of the events from yesterday. It couldn't have been better timing.

"We're in here Cleo," replied Sam, her voice coming from the kitchen.

Cleo smiled and turned back to her friends. "I'll only be a sec." She closed the door and went into the kitchen. Both Sam and her dad were there, sitting at the table with cups of coffee. "Hey, Dad could I have the key to Emma's? She and her family are gonna be here in only a few hours. We wanna get her house all set up."

Her father stood up and reached into his jean pocket. "Don't mess the place up too much. I don't want them to come home to a disaster."

"Don't worry Dad, I've got it taken care of." Cleo smiled, gave him a hug, and raced back outside.

"Okay guys we got it. Lewis you have the stuff for the party right?"

"No I completely forgot."

Cleo stared at him blankly.

"I'm kidding, it's all over at my house. I'll meet you guys over at Emma's."

She rolled her eyes, "Okay then."

Lewis left to his house, and the rest of them continued to the Gilbert's, talking about nonchalant things before Bella asked, "What does Emma look like? I want to know her when I see her."

Rikki answered first, "Uh… she's got light blonde, kind of longer hair and really pale skin. She's annoyingly responsible and a total smart-alek. Kind of a worry wart too."

"Thanks for that lovely introduction Rikki," Cleo muttered. "She's one of the nicest people you will ever meet and really fun to have around. Her boyfriend's name is Ash; he went with them on the tour. He actually used to own The Juicenet Café- I mean, _Rikki's _and he and Emma ran it. But Rikki and Emma fought _all _of the time."

"It was all friendly," Rikki smiled. "She was such a stress head. I miss her so much!"

Emma's house was cold and dusty. Their furniture and other things were all still there, but the place made Cleo feel down. There were so many memories here. "Rikki, do you remember that time we faked we were sick so we could stay out of the rain?"

Rikki laughed, the sound carrying cheerily throughout the house. "How could I forget? We hadn't been mermaids for very long and it was raining outside one school morning, so we pretended like we were sick and it got waaaay out of hand," she explained to Bella. "It was a close call."

"Yeah I can remember plenty of those," Bella laughed. "So should we get this place partied up?"

"Let's go," Cleo grinned.

Lewis wasn't back yet, so they took the liberty of cleaning off some of the dust and dirt that had collected around the place. Cleo thought that she remembered Emma saying something about paying someone to clean it; and the house hadn't been totally neglected. But there was still quite a bit around. She and Bella took the kitchen and Rikki and will did the front room. Cleo started coughing after a while; the dust was really thick in some places.

Once Lewis came they decided to ditch the cleanup and instead decorated the place up. They hung streamers and blew up balloons, making the place entirely multicolored. Cleo set up snacks in the kitchen; easy to clean packages.

She had to say that when they were finished at last the place looked terrific, and they only had about a half hour of time to kill. Cleo started having to restrain herself from jumping up and down.

The other guests invited weren't scheduled to come until after the Gilberts arrived, but some people started showing up anyways. Mostly just friends that had known Emma for a long time; like her swim team friends. They all sat around, chatting animatedly and waiting. Then a call came out, "They just pulled up in the driveway."

Cleo looked up from her spot on the couch to see the girl who'd been watching out the window jump up and race over. "Everybody hide!"

It was quite a scandal as Rikki snapped off the lights and everyone jumped behind the couches and into dark corners. Everyone was giggling.

It seemed to Cleo that it took a very long time for the front door to open, but when it happened she could barely suppress a squeal of excitement, watching for her friend.

The Gilberts were all carrying large bags and big smiles. Cleo felt a huge smile come to her face as she saw Emma coming in with Ash behind her. They looked so much older!

Just as the lights went on everyone jumped up and shouted, "Surprise!"

Emma's family couldn't have been more surprised. Elliot dropped his bags and his parents jumped about three feet in the air. Suddenly it just seemed like an explosion of noise as everyone cheered and began their reunion.

Cleo was thrilled to see that out of the many faces, Emma was straining to find her and Rikki. When her eyes finally landed on them her face lit up and she set her bags on the floor and raced over.

When the three of them embraced, it knocked the wind out of Cleo for a moment and small tears sprang to her eyes. Over the noise of everyone else, it was hard to see what Emma was saying, but a lot of unsaid things went into the hug.

"You've been gone forever!" Rikki said, talking loudly.

"I know!" The sound of hearing Emma's voice made Cleo's tears spill over. "I missed you guys so much! I have _so much _to tell you."

Rikki and Cleo looked at each other, and agreed simultaneously. "I'll bet we have a lot more."

"Ash hi!" Cleo called, seeing him and giving him a hug as well. "How are you?"

"Great," he said, grinning more widely than her. "What's been going on here?"

"By the sound of things, a lot," Emma said, brushing back her hair. Her skin was as pale as ever, but she still seemed so far away, like a long lost dream. "Oh. Who's this?"

She had just spotted Bella.


End file.
